There are just some points where a team realizes that they have made a major mistake with one of their players. I think the New York Islanders have hit that point with goaltender Rick DiPietro and have let it be known that they want to try to trade him this offseason. The problem, obviously, is the fact that DiPietro isn’t very good and has a massive contract. The team has basically no chance of trading him away and may be forced to try one of two options.

The first option would be to just buy out the contract. That is going to cost a ton of money and will hamper the team in a very big way going forward. That wouldn’t be the best idea in all honesty due to the amount of money it will cost to get that done. The salary cap hit is too much.

The team could also hope that DiPietro suddenly turns his career around. He has made less than ten appearances in four of the last five seasons, though.

It isn’t a good sign that DiPietro can’t avoid injuries or general bad play. The Islanders are going to need another bad contract to come up for them to make any trade. I can’t think of any deal that is worse right now than DiPietro’s. The team is going to need to make a serious decision before next season begins. I would just get rid of DiPietro right now because he isn’t helping the team at all and hasn’t in years. It won’t be fun financially, but it is the right move at this point in time even if it isn’t the best idea.

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.